White House official: We can’t exclude Canada from tariffs

If Canadians are hoping to be spared from American tariffs, they may be disappointed.

A White House official is telling the U.S. Sunday talk shows that President Donald Trump has made up his mind: steel and aluminum tariffs will apply to everyone.

That includes America’s No. 1 supplier of both: Canada.

White House trade official Peter Navarro, making the rounds of weekly talk shows, says that excluding one country will create a slippery slope — he says tariffs would go up on the remaining countries, and everyone else would demand the same treatment as Canada.

He is being repeatedly pressed on the Canada issue in these interviews. Show hosts are asking him how the White House can possibly justify using a national security excuse for imposing tariffs on a close NATO partner, and official member of the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Navarro did leave one hopeful possibility for Canada: he says that while no countries will be excluded, some key industries might be. Of special concern to Canada is the auto industry — and how these tariffs would play havoc with cross-border supply chains.